Film Noir
by greenxeggsxandxspam
Summary: An aspiring filmmaker living in Forks meets Jacob Black and a friendship begins to blossom. Not all rainbows and butterflies, There WILL be blood in later chapters
1. Chapter 1

I have to get out of here. This place; this useless one-horse shanty town is driving me insane.

In other words, Forks Washington is _killing_ me. It's killing everyone else, too. It's those stupid bloodsucking Cullen's fault, causing all sorts of trouble here and then ditching, leaving their problem's behind. Every few weeks a new vampire seems to show up out of the blue, hanging in the woods for a while, hunting at night and making itself a little 'coven' and then-

LOCKDOWN. Everyone holes up in the high school basement for the night. There's a whole, enormous shelter down there, in case of Fallout and whathaveyou. While we useless normal folk cower underground the 'defenders' come out to hunt bloodsuckers. After the first few vamps showed up the town dissolved into panicked chaos. Hundreds of people fled, in cars, on foot, boats, everything. Most of them didn't make it, chancing upon a ravenous vampire in the woods and doubling back towards town as one of the undead. People tried guns, fire, axes and shovels. None of it worked. These aren't lurching, sluggish zombies we're dealing with, they're too fast, too unexplainably strong. I thought it was hopless. Everyone did. Yet no one went for help. We would've let it spread outside of Forks, unleashing the vampire virus throughout the world. We would've _ended_ the world, out of what, embarrassment? Foolish pride? Fear? In all honesty, the military would probably lockdown Forks. Inevitably they would have to send in firebombs, there's no other solution. They would wipe us off the face of the earth because that's what they _have to do_. It's not anyone's fault if people have to die for the good of the rest of the world. The world is way overpopulated anyway, corrupt, overpopulated and running out of room to expand.

All of this was avoided when the kids from La Push came bounding into town one day. They weren't exactly _kids. _They were more of a snarling mass of fur, cascading through the streets, we though they were going to eat us, honestly. That Forks was some god forsaken devil town, some portal to the underworld. But the enormous wolves dashed around town in waves and groups and pairs, as if on patrol, they never even acknowledged regular people. If they came upon a vampire, they would raise an unearthly howl, ringing off the windows of shops, trapped in the bowl of the town by the trees surrounding it. In minutes the waves of fur begin rolling through the streets, all closing in on the bloodsucker, even running on the tops of buildings, leaving no possible escape. In the moments before they closed in the wolves who'd raised the alarm had thier chance to go one on one with the blood sucker. This was the time when everyone hopped into shops and huddled away from the windows throughout town. I liked to stay outside. It's the sort of thing you just _don't see_, not in real life. Who would pass up the chance to watch such a movie worthy moment, a clash of two titans. You just _have to watch_. My mother is frightened for me to the point of hysteria. She forbids me from staying out to watch. She instucts me to head straight home every day; she doesn't trust the wolves any more than she does bloodsuckers. She doesn't know because she doesn't see it the way i do. We're _safe_. The vampires always end up being routed out by the endless draught of wolves.

After the first few groups of vampires the werewolves of La Push came out to the mayor, requested that they be trusted to keep the outbreak under control. The schools all became integrated, and for the first time in a long time the kids from the reserve walked the halls of Forks high along with the rest of us. Most of the older guys put school on the back burner, becoming almost full time protectors. We held a sort of unspoken respect for them, and perhaps a little fear. Teachers waived test grades and absent days. What they were doing for us was _important_. It was the most generous thing they could do. They're using their gift to protect us. They're sort of like- knights. Warriors. Maybe those are a bit overdramatic. Hell, i'm rambling; I just can't help but feel we owe them.

I should be listening. I'd like to pass; i'd like to ditch Forks as soon as possible . School has gotten competetive, there are no more slackers, no more dropouts. Everyone wants to find an escape from this madness. I plan on filming a documentary on Forks, how it's falling apart. The rest of the world should be aware, we should at least prepare everyone for the worst case scenario. I've started filming, but all i've collected so far is grisly, shocking footage, the sort of thing that would cause hysteria. So far I've got a flat out monster movie, in horrifying detail.

"Hey. Snap out of it." I look up, eyes wide with shock. I'd gotten completely lost in my thoughts. The teacher had counted us off and grouped us up without me noticing. My partners both have the ruddy brown skin and jet black hair common to La Push. They're both staring down at the open notebook in front of me. I look too and see that thinking so hard has made me anxious. My hand is skittering around the page drawing doodles that look like something out of a mental patient's sketchbook. Poorly drawn phantom wolves stampede across the page in blue ink. My arms shoot out to cover the page and i tilt my head forward, letting my bangs shade my eyes.

"What-" My voice cracks, my embarrasment making me nervous and i can't think of what to say. "What are we doing?"

They both look at me a bit longer before the larger of them slides the direction sheet next to my notebook. I read the instructions for some lab. I've never been scientific, per se. I've always sort of scavanged the difficult answers from my partner's pages.

"Water quality, oh joy." Their faces are like clay masks, their black eyes are boring into mine even through the curtain of my hair.

"We need muck."

"Sorry, i left all my muck at home today." The joke comes out thin and high-pitched, followed by a nervous laugh. Their gazes remain fixed on me, but the larger one's mouth loosens into a smile.

"Bucket, smartass. Care to do the honors. He pushes a plastic box toward me, pointing to a white bucket at the front of the class. It's got tubes snaking out of the top and it's bubbling like a coffee maker.

I take the box gingerly and walk to the front, all the other students have their muck and are heading in the other direction. I catch a whiff of the stuff on my way past and it makes my eyes water. It smells like a rotting carcass. At the teacher's desk i have to crouch down by the bucket, holding my breath against the wave of stench that's wafting out at me. I scoop about a handful of it into the box, pieces of algae and whatever else drizzling over the looks like kale soup gone wrong. It sloshes around in the box as i walk, green water swirling cx and stirring up foggy particles that drift and settle back to the bottom when i set it down on the long black lab table. One of the boys is returning from the closet with a large bulky microscope. He's got one huge hand clamped around the neck, completely against the "Microscope Respect Syllabus" poster pasted against the door. My eyes fix on his wrist. It's about three times thicker than my own. I trace up his arm to his shoulder's also impossibly wide, then to his face. His expression doesn't quite fit with his bulk or rippling muscle. His eyes twinkle with mischief like a kid's. His eyes flash to meet mine and for a second i'm frozen like a deer in headlights, mouth open, clearly staring at him. I tear my eyes away, leaning over the container of pond scum like it was the most interesting thing in the room. I could see tiny shrimp-like things darting around the water, hiding under pieces of leaves.

The other kid speaks up. "Shouldn't we put on gloves?" He was still tall, but he was lankier and obviously still young. He looked seriously grossed out by our assignment.

"Gloves shmoves." I say, before i can stop myself. I've always had a tendancy to spout silly comments like this, little nonsense words that don't have to mean anything, since i haven't always got something lined up to say. Silence makes me more uncomfortable than anything. Dark things live in silence, i think. Hate and Fear are both silent. I always have to have some distraction to keep my brain from reeling off into panic.

The kid furrows his brow and moves to the teacher's desk to get gloves anyway. "Me-ow. No need to get catty there, Seth. Let the girl eat muck if she wants." He's smiling crookedly, and i'm glad i've got him talking, it gives me an excuse to study him. Both of them are good looking kids, all of the guys from La Push are popular with the girls. They've got all of the girls swooning and all of the guys jealous. They all seem awfully graceful under the attention, going about their day as if they weren't the town celebrities. "You're supposed to be studying macro invertabrates, not me." He says softly, his eyes are coal black and intense. It reminds of something.

The first day i caught the wolves on film, i had dared to move closer than usual, standing in the open with a camera as three wolves, all jet black chased and cornered a pair of vampires in a parking lot. The noise was almost unbearable, explosive snarls and growls making my ears ring. I could hear the rest of the pack closing in, dozens of padded paws trampling the concrete in the distance. One of the wolves was about fifty feet in front of the main group. It was coming incredibly close, _too_ close. I whipped the camera away from the bloody fight and fixed the viewfinder on the form dashing straight at me. It felt as though time slowed down, warping and stretching until i grew almost weary from standing so still. As it grew closer to me i could make out every detail:every tooth sharpened like daggers, the sparkle in it's black eyes. It's eyes looked mischievous, intelligent, _human_. It was making a beeline for me and suddenly i felt the urge to run. What was stopping it from coming after me? The wolves seemed to enjoy the chase, so what kept them from hunting for people too? As i turned to run a shadow fell over me and there was an ultra-prolonged moment of silence before it came down on the other side of me on all fours. It planted it's legs to the ground just a few feet in front of me and brought it's head down low to the ground, uttering a bone-shaking growl. I now saw why. The bloodsuckers had called for backup too. Nearly a dozen of them were headed in this direction, with unearthly speed. The wolf turned and bounded back towards me, snarling at me like a sheep dog. I scrambled back and back, my arms flailing to keep balance in my panic. The viewfinder of the camera was zoomed in, picking up nothing but fur and snapping teeth. I tried to refocus it on the vampires but my hands were shaking, useless. I was backed into a corner, the walls of a loading dock blocking me on three sides. The noise of rapid, shuffling feet grew louder and louder. The two vampires being attacked must have been finished, because the second force stopped, sniffing the air just out side the loading dock. One of them made direct eye contact with me. He had white hair, and he wasn't wearing a shirt. All eleven of the other vampires were women- girls- around my age. He barked something in a language i didn't recognize, and the girls began running excitedly in my direction. They were _laughing_. They were closing in to kill me and they were laughing! I pressed myself back into the concrete wall, willing my body to pass through the stone. I can always pass through walls in my dreams. On the downside: i can never run. I slid down the wall so that i was curled into a ball at the bottom. Though i was resigned to my own death i kept the camera rolling and facing foreward. If i died the tape would definately find it's way onto the internet. Everyone would know. That's all i really want. I wouldn't mind all that fame and everything, just as long as people _knew. _

I blacked out, then and when i awoke i was still in the loading dock. My camera was dead, but still sitting just as I'd left it. A man was approaching me, flanked by two security gaurds. Every trace of the monsters was gone now, as if they'd only been a bad dream. I smiled weakly at the men. "No need for any formalities, sir-sirs. I'll just get going." I snatched my camera up and shuffled off, itching to see the tape, and also literally itching; i was _covered_ in sweat. My phone says it's early in the day, but the sun was nearly set last i recalled. I must've been out all night. I seriously dread going home, as i'll have to explain to my mother why she hasn't seen me in almost a day. She'll likely be raving by this point and will likely only get worse the longer i stay out. I sighed heavily and jammed my camera into it's case. The walk home was literally the entire length of Forks and took me nearly an hour. Thankfully i couldn't have possibly gotten any sweatier. When i reached my front step finally i smelled like a gym sock and my clothes weighed at least twice what they had the previous day. I opened the front door warily, peeking around the corner into the kitchen. It was all clear so i hurried up the stairs nearly on all fours. I close my door as softly as i can and gather some clothes for a shower. As i walk into the bathroom with my arms full i hear, "Where have you been? You leave! you just leave and don't come back like your damn father." I should've known i couldn't have skipped the usual chewing out from the mad woman i have to call my mother. I wanted to raise the pile of clothes in my arms to my face and smother myself, but i set them down on the bathroom counter and turned calmly toward her. "Mom, we both know where i was, and we can both see that i'm home in one piece, albiet a bit late. But there's no reason for you to get yourself all worked up. Please go back down stairs."

Her eyes filled with tears momentarily, then she shook her head as if she were possesed. I half expected her head to do a three-sixty. She let out a grunt that she seemed to think was an incredibly valid point and scurried downstairs.

"My mother has become an animal..."


	2. Chapter 2

"What's up with her? Do you think she's in a coma?" Seth has returned to the table with gloves, tweezers and a miniature turkey baster.

"Hush. She's just a deep thinker."

"Be real, dude, she's not a philosopher, she's a schitzoprenic."

"She's interesting."

"Don't make me ralph. Do i really have to deal with you making moon eyes at this chick all class?"

"I'm not making moon eyes._ These_ are moon eyes."

"Don't look at me like that, everyone can see you."

"Who cares what they say? They could never keep us apart." There was a yelp and the clang of a lab stool toppling over.

I couldn't focus on the details of my memory with them making such a racket. To my surprise, i opened my eyes to an empty table, the muck sitting forlornly in it's bucket. I assumed i had been abandoned and began the lab myself. People began standing up and coming towards my table. One girl was talking. "Omigod! Are you okay?"

"I'm good. I work alone all the time."

She looked at me and sneered. "I wasn't talking to you." Her face morphs back to vapid cuteness. "Do you need help, Seth?"

"Not really." Seth said, straightening up from beneath the table. "Maybe trade groups with me?"

The girl scowls in thought for a second, then calls over one of her partners, a skinny kid with an underbite. "Switch with Seth and i'll let you buy me lunch today."

"I-I don't _want _to buy you-"

"Thank you. Come on, Seth, my group's way better."

"Hi." The tragically ugly boy joins me on my side of the table. He sits on his stool with his head cocked to the side to stare at me. "I'm James, I'm in your gym class."

"Hello." I said shortly, hoping he'd get the idea and we could do our lab in peace.

"I like your hair. It's reminds me of an elvin princess."

"Shh! You're scaring the fish." Was my witty alternative to, "Shut your deformed mouth."

He quieted down somewhat and i began hauling in mayflies by the thimble-ful, the rest of the class was bustling, kids were trying to catch a frog in the big bucket. As i was sketching the last of my catch, something clamped around my calf. I shreiked, images of giant skeletal bugs popping into my mind. I kicked both my legs and found myself face up on the tiled floor. The teacher was up out of his chair and running over to me. He leaned over me, demanding that someone call the nurse. "That won't be necessary." I say, righting my stool and getting to work immediately. I don't like to talk to teachers... I feel like they think I'm _that kid_. Maybe it's in my head. Anyway, i prefer not to draw attention. I find myself being pulled once again off my stool, but this time it doesn't fall over. I'm turned around on the way to the floor and pulled into the space under the counter."Gotcha!" The larger of the two La Push boys has one arm around my waist and he's chuckling as if he'd made some huge acomplishment. Underbite kid seems honestly confused as to my whereabouts.

"What are you, a third grader?" I frog has hopped out of someone's hands, he comes leaping just a few feet in front of us, and the class is going insane. The girls are squealing and the boys are dancing around trying to catch the frog. It would be easier if they took their gloves off. Amphibians are my favorite. Salamanders and frogs and all the other slimy, colorful creatures.

"You were really scared, huh?" I wish he'd let me go, so i could at least sit properly. I'm practically in his lap. "You thought i was a table monster, didn't you?"

"Table monster?"

"You know, the thing that gr- nevermind." He releases my waist and turns me to face him. He lowers his voice until it's almost inaudible. "I think we each have something the other wants."

I immediately feel my face flush. "That's a very nice offer-."

"That was a stupid way to put it. I was going for melodrama. What i mean is, we can help eachother out."

"Still not quite following."

"I was _there_." He says, as if it clarifies anything.

"Did you drag me under a table for the sole reason of babbling like a maniac? I thought i had a screw loose." I move to crawl out from under the bench but he catches my wrist.

"Don't you remember me?" He's looking at me with eyes like saucers.

Of course i remember; i couldn't forget eyes like that. "Thank you. Is that what you wanted? Really, thank you.I guess I'd be dead by now if it weren't for you."

"Oh. All in a day's work. That's not what i wanted, either. The film is what i was getting at. Your little movie. I wanna see it."

"You've already seen it. You_ did _all of it."

"I know, but i want to see it movie style, i could be like fuzzy James Bond. Or maybe something better than that, but you know what i mean."

"I hate to crush your wierd little fantasy, but i've hardly editted anything yet. I don't even have a title. It's a work in progress."

"Then i wanna see it when it's done."

"Seriously, it could take forever, it might not even be any good."

"Jeez, don't you have even a little self esteem? Man, you need me around. Make sure you don't hurt yourself being so negative." He smiles at me disarmingly and i sigh. I can see already that he's the sort of person you end up being friends with whether you like it or not.

As I'm thinking of something to say the class bell rings and he pats me on the back, climbing out from under the table as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I scramble after him, nearly overturning the stools, shove my notebook into my bag and run to keep up with his long strides as he exits the classroom. "You never told me your name." I say breathlessly.  
"Oh jeez, sorry." He thrusts out an enourmous hand for me to shake. "It's Jake. Jacob Black."

"My name is Harmony." I answer, but he's gone as soon as i release his hand.


End file.
